When it All Goes Terribly Wrong
by CreamLemon
Summary: How happy would Elizabeth have been if she had gotten married to Will right after the first movie? And what if she got an offer to go back to sea? EJ w some EW.
1. Chapter 1

When it All Goes Terribly Wrong

What would have happened if Will and Elizabeth gotten married after the first movie. E/W/J

Don't take this seriously. I sure as hell wasn't when I wrote it. It's also fairly graphic, so kiddies beware.

* * *

The sounds of clanging metal rang out through the forge. Will was sweating like a pig from the heat of the fire, and wondered why on earth any man would want to be a blacksmith in the middle of the tropics. His hammer crashed against the anvil as he made horse shoes. One after another. 

Sure, once and a while there was an order for a sword. But mostly it was horseshoes and nails. Often a man would come in with a broken something or other from a ship, and Will would have to figure out how to repair it or make a new one.

Making swords for a living had been a dream, compared to the menial tasks he did after setting up in Tortuga once he and Elizabeth were married. Living in Port Royal hadn't been an option after they had helped Jack Sparrow escape, and James Norrington (once he realized how stupid he'd been to give up Elizabeth) was keen on having him put in jail.

"Darling," Elizabeth called from the doorway. She was wearing a simple blue dress and a big white apron, a far cry from he lady she had been born as. She was brown as any native from working outdoors, and her hands were nearly as rough as his own. But after all, they were happy. Neither had any regrets.

"Yes, my dear?" Will replied, tossing his head back to get his hair out of his face, sweat droplets flying in all directions.

"Supper's ready. Get washed up."

At the well Will stripped down to just his breeches, washing quickly from the bucket with the soft soap that Elizabeth had made herself. They had been married two years, and in that time she had gone from knowing nothing more than needle point and making cherries jubilee, to running a household as well as any other working class wife. She could even help out in the forge, and at her own insistence was learning how to make swords and fight with them.

He had wondered at first how Elizabeth's wild streak would fair as a wife, but she had calmed down considerably.

He crossed the yard and into the little house behind the forge, carrying his shirt, his breeches and hair soaking wet. The house was just one room, but it was all they needed. Elizabeth had supper set out on the table, and she was waiting for him with a smile on her face. "I'm not wearing any petticoats," she told him.

He pulled her close to him. "Is that so?" he asked, burying his face in her neck, kissing up to her ear. "You tell me this right before we sit down to eat?"

"The food always tastes better cold--eaten naked."

"I wouldn't know. It's been so long since I've had a hot meal."

They fell together into bed. Sometimes Will wondered if she would ever get tired, but every day was as exciting as the first with Elizabeth. He pulled his breeches off, suddenly too tight at the groin area, and stripped her dress off as quickly as possible, wanting so very badly to get to the soft flesh beneath. She lay before him naked and beautiful, her small round breasts rising and falling with her breath. "I can't get enough of you," he whispered, covering her body with his.

"Fuck me, Will."

Will winced. He hated it when she used such harsh language.

He thrust into her, hard and ready, and she cried out as he filled her and began to pound into her.

She writhed and moaned underneath him as he ground his hips against hers over and over. "Oh, I wish you didn't have to stop," Elizabeth breathed.

"I don't," Will assured, pumping even faster. He wasn't going to last long. He never did when she wanted to be 'fucked.'

"No, get off of me."

"Elizabeth, please." But he knew there was no point in arguing, so he pulled out. Her hand wrapped around him almost immediately, and seconds later he had spilled himself all over her stomach.

"Too close," Elizabeth whispered, but Will had heard her. "That was lovely," she said aloud, wiping herself and quickly getting up to wash off. "I love you."

He sighed. "I know it; and I, you."

"Don't be upset. Children will rob us of our freedom." She ran her wet hands over her naked body. "And besides, I'll lose my figure and you wont love me anymore."

"You could be as big as two Elizabeths put together and I would still love you."

They sat down to their meal half-dressed. Indeed, Elizabeth wore naught but the bedclothes wrapped around her. "But one day there will be children," Will told her. "I want to be a father."

"But not now. Someday."

"Soon."

"We'll see."

They ate in silence for a while before Elizabeth looked up at him. "We're almost out of sugar, so I'm going into town today. Is there anything you need?"

"I don't think so. . .be sure you're armed."

"Sword and pistol, I promise. And the townspeople will say, 'there goes Mad Lizzy Turner who's husband is paranoid she'll be kidnapped by pirates.' "

"Well, it's happened before," he told her pointedly. "And this town is crawling with pirates." He pushed his plate away from him and stood. "I need to get back to the forge."

Elizabeth came round the table to kiss him. "I might stay in town a bit and visit the ladies."

"As long as you're home in time to make my dinner."

"Of course."


	2. Chapter 2

When it All Goes Terribly Wrong

* * *

Elizabeth regretted marrying Will.

It wasn't that she didn't love him. She did, with all her heart and always would. But he was content with their simple life, and she wanted so much more. Her pistol in her shopping basket and her sword belted over her dress, she took the ten minute walk into Tortuga.

During the day it was much more sedated, many of it's male inhabitants too hung over to be rowdy. So the weapons weren't really necessary. She hadn't been wrong when she said Will was paranoid.

The daytime in Tortuga was for the womenfolk, few that there were. Elizabeth had used the term 'ladies' figuratively. There were no ladies in Tortuga, only a handful of wives and the prostitutes living in the two houses that made up the red-light district. This was where Elizabeth was headed.

The prostitutes were the most interesting friends she had ever had. They were colorful and boisterous, talked like men, and told the best stories.

Annette, a tall redhead, answered the door of the House of the Dewy Trollop. "Lizzy! So good to see you. Come on, we're all in the parlor playing cards and gossiping! Will you have wine?"

"Please," Elizabeth said, following Annette to the front parlor. It had large windows and no curtains, so the men on the street could be tempted by the women within. But right now three women were busied around a card table, completely ignoring the streets. All were clad in their under things, bare arms and stockings all around.

Annette pulled up another chair for Elizabeth and got her a glass from the bar. "Georgie's beau broke the last wine glass, so you'll have to settle for a beer mug."

"He's not my beau," Georgette, replied, collecting the cards and re-dealing. "He's barely human."

"What's this now?" Elizabeth asked.

"The man is the size of a bear. He wants to take her away from all this degradation and make her his wife." Jeannie sighed. "I wish someone would feel that way about me."

"He just wants free sex," Louise insisted. She was the eldest of the girls at twenty-three, and had come from France with Madame Beaudeu, the woman who ran the house. "You give it away as a wife." She looked up at Elizabeth. "Begging your pardon, Mrs. Turner."

"It's fine," Elizabeth told her. "I admit though, I'm not nearly content with being married as I thought I would be. I kind of hoped that after we were married we could go to sea together. But Will has to be practical, and normal. Too normal. He brought up having children again."

"If he wants it so badly he can take one of mine." Louise had three children, ages eight, three, and a new baby. They lived in the brothel with her, and enjoyed the attention of five mothers.

"I'm not a motherly sort of woman."

"You get used to it."

Madame Beaudeu entered with a crying bundle and a crying toddler attached to her leg. "Louise, take these blasted children of yours before I wring their necks."

Louise put down her cards. "Actually, you really don't." She took the baby from the Madame and, balancing it in one arm, took her little boy by the snot-covered hand and lead him out of the room.

Once she was gone the Madame looked at her other girls lounging around the table. "Look alive, girls! At the very least, sit up straight. You wont attract customers laying about like that." She turned to Elizabeth. "Nice of you to visit us, Mrs. Turner. Though I'm not sure if you give us an air of respectability, or we give you a bad reputation. Your husband can't approve."

"He knows I wont stay home, and would choose the company of women, even scarlet ones, over wandering into the taverns. Which still do sometimes. When he's too busy in the forge to notice I'm gone. I steal his clothes and go out…"

"And do what?"

"Wander the docks, got to the taverns and have a couple drinks. Honestly," she took a long drink of her wine. "Sometimes I think about joining a crew while Will's off making horseshoes and not come back."

"You're husband's a fine man," Jeannie protested. "He doesn't hit you or drink and is generous with money. . ."

"That's why I can't bring myself to do it," Elizabeth said helplessly. "Is there more wine?"

"Here dear," Madame Beaudeu refilled her cup. "My husband was a good man too. I was so relieved when he died. I--" she was interrupted by a ringing of the door bell. "Ah. A customer. Sit up straight, girls!" Elizabeth downed her second wine in three long swallows. The Madame exited the room and returned a moment later with--

"Jack Sparrow!" Elizabeth said in surprise, jumping to her feet even as the other girls were still lounging.

Jack, if he was surprised to see her, didn't show it. "Elizabeth, how the mighty have fallen." He turned to the Madame. "I'll take that one."

The other girls squealed in delight with this new twist, but Elizabeth didn't bat an eye. "Whatever you want, Jack."

"Mr. Sparrow," Madame Beaudeu said hurriedly, "Mrs. Turner is just visiting us. She isn't--"

"I said it's okay," Elizabeth told her. "Really. Jack and I are close friends. May we use the front bedroom?" Madame Beaudeu, flabbergasted, could only nod.

Jack grinned as he followed her up the stairs. "I like your style, Miss Elizabeth. Excuse me--Mrs. Turner." She didn't answer. "So I take it things are not going well with Will, a fine lass like you turning to whoring and all. I told you he was a eunuch."

"Things are going fine." She took him into the front bedroom. As soon as the door was closed she faced him. "Jack! I'm bored to tears!" She grabbed him by his coat to pull him closer. "Everyday I get up, clean the house and I cook! I hate cooking. I have to beg Will to let me help him in the forge, but making nails is even more boring than cooking!"

Her eyes were wild, her voice cracking as she started to cry. "I miss the sea, and the salt spray when waves crash against the ship. I miss being rocked to sleep at night by the ocean. I miss wearing breeches and drinking rum. I even miss _you_! Please, take me with you before I shoot myself!"

When Elizabeth looked at Jack Sparrow she saw everything she ever wanted. And what she wanted was nothing more than to sail the ocean on the Black Pearl, at his side.

Jack laughed. "Can't do that luv. The crew wouldn't like it, nor would your husband."

"Bugger my husband. He treats me like a wife."

"Heaven forbid." He grinned. "Well, now that you have me up here in this bedroom, what will you do with me?"

She bit her lip. She probably shouldn't have had that wine. Elizabeth didn't drink very often, and when she did, it tended to cause her to do exactly what she wanted, even if it might possibly be a bad idea. "If I sleep with you, will you take me with you?"

"Maybe." He grabbed her by the hips and pulled her up against him. "Yes."


	3. Chapter 3

When it All Goes Terribly Wrong

Yay, more sex!

I'm annoyed. how come there aren't more elegant ways to say boobs? We got lots of tacky/silly/dirty words for them, but nothing tasteful other than 'breasts' and how many times can you use that?

* * *

If someone had asked her, and she'd said that she had never had any interest in Jack Sparrow, she would have been lying. The first time they met he had undressed her. How could she not think about him in that way? She had been wanting to undress Jack Sparrow since they had been marooned. In retrospect, she was very annoyed that her respectability had been able to control her even while incredibly drunk.

But she wasn't respectable any more. She was a Tortuga blacksmith's wife who knew how to handle a sword.

"Jack," she breathed, backing him towards the bed. "Do you know how long I've wanted you?"

"I knew you did." His sun-darkened hands ran up her sides, causing her to hiss as they grazed the sides of her breasts. "How could you resist? I'm Captain Jack Sparrow."

She smiled. "Arrogant ass."

"I've wanted you too, you know."

Her smile broadened. "Horny wanker."

"Lets take care of that then, shall we?"

Elizabeth wanted to take her time, pulling off Jack's coat and undoing each button of his shirt with care, exploring every scar and tattoo with her fingertips and lips. His body told the story his life--a life of adventure and danger. As she pulled off her dress, she felt ashamed. Her hands and brown arms and face revealed that she gardened. "I wish I looked like you, Jack."

"Nothing wrong with the sight before me." She had just pulled of her chemise and stood naked before him. "I could look at it forever." She kissed him, for the first time, as he pulled her, naked, into his arms. She felt him growing hard against her stomach as he tried to bring her as close to him as possible.

He reached between them to find his belt, and without separating he let his loose trousers fall to the floor, and he stepped out of his boots. She let out a small screech as he picked her up and tumbled her onto the bed, following to straddle her waist and begin kissing every part of her body as he lay hard between her legs. She wrapped a hand around him and began stroking until he was rock hard. He wasn't as large as Will, and it didn't matter one bit.

"Are you sure you want this, luv?"

"I've never wanted anyone more," Elizabeth answered back. Every inch of her skin was on fire, and she let out a cry as he slipped a hand between her legs, sinking two fingers into her wetness. She buckled against him as he moved his fingers, taking his thumb to rub against the bud of flesh that sent waves of pleasure shocking through her. "Please Jack," she moaned. "I need you."

"Not yet." The smile was gone from his face as he concentrated on her. "You have no idea how many times I wished you would say those words to me."

Her world came crashing down around her as she climaxed, and before her orgasm had subsided, he pushed into her, hard and solid, causing her to cry out, and within a minute she was coming again, raking her nails across his back and clinging to him as he continued to stroke.

He came a minute later in hot spurts against her inner walls, calling out her name as he pulled her closer.

* * *

They huddled together, a sweaty mass, until their breathing returned to normal. "Jack. . . that was, oh Jack."

"I know what you mean luv. Could you have been any louder?"

Elizabeth didn't even blush. "That was one thing that Will never liked about me. He was afraid the neighbors would hear. . .the neighbors are a whole quarter mile away." She got up and began to dress. "When is the Pearl leaving? I need to pack and figure out how to break the news to Will."

"Tonight." He put his hat back on first and reached for the rest of his clothes, pulling them on quickly.

"Tonight! That doesn't give me much time at all, does it? Well, I could meet you at the docks at midnight. . ."

"Elizabeth?"

"Maybe I could just leave him a note. Of course, that would be rather cowardly of me, wouldn't it?"

"Elizabeth, I can't take you."

"What?"

"I can't. Will would hunt me down and kill me, Ana Maria would desert. You have no idea how jealous she gets when there are other women around. . .and frankly, you make the whole crew nervous."

"So it was a lie. . .everything you said?" Her future disintegrated before her eyes, and she could physically feel her heart breaking.

"No, not everything. Just the part about taking you with me. Pirate, remember luv?" She slapped him hard across the face and stomped out of the room, back downstairs.

The house's girls weren't playing cards, and from the looks on their faces it had been obvious that they had been listening through the ceiling. Elizabeth stormed into the room to retrieve her shopping basket from where she had left it on the sofa. Jack was right behind her.

"Elizabeth," he pleaded. "I swear upon the Pearl herself that--" He stopped short when she drew her pistol, pointing it directly at his heart. The girls all gasped and got out of her way.

"That's Mrs. Turner to you, Jack." She cocked the gun. "You deserve to be shot."

"I do. However, I think--"

"I'll do it."

"Yes, of course," he said, speaking quickly. "But I'd like you to consider _not_ shooting me." Elizabeth's face softened, and she started to lower the pistol.

And emptied the barrel into his thigh.

"My apologies, Madame Beaudeu," told the shocked madame as Jack writhed and screamed on the floor, holding onto his leg which was bleeding profusely. "I'll of course replace your rug. Good day ladies."

It wasn't until she was half-way home that she realized what she had let Jack do. She didn't know what scared her more. The possibility of a baby, or of Will finding out.


	4. Chapter 4

Part 4

I didn't think this story would take so many parts to tell…ah well. This bit's short, and then the epilogue.

* * *

Will was so busy finishing up the order of horseshoes that he didn't even notice that Elizabeth came home. When he want inside for dinner she was standing at the stove stirring stew, her shopping basket sitting in his chair like she had thrown it down in a hurry. 

"You didn't come say hello," he accused, not really hurt. "Did you have a nice time? Get your sugar?" He picked up the basket to put it away.

"Blast!" she exclaimed, slamming the spoon down into the pot. "I forgot the bloody sugar!"

Will barely heard her. He had gotten the pistol out of her basket to put next to the bed, where it sat every night in case of intruders. "Elizabeth, this pistols been fired." It clattered to the table as he rushed to her side. "What happened? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she replied letting him take her into his arms. His wife looked like she had been crying. "There was a problem. With a man. I didn't get hurt."

"Are you sure? I'll go find him--I'll kill him if he tried to--" He felt the anger and fear well up inside him. He had never loved anything the way he loved Elizabeth. If anything had happened to her. . .

"He didn't touch me. I took care of it. I'm fine."

"I'll go tomorrow to get the sugar. You're staying home."

"All right. I--I love you Will."

"I love you too. Sit down, I'll bring you dinner." He smiled at her. "I'll even do the dishes, if it will make you feel better."

"I don't deserve you," she replied. "I can do the dishes. I'm fine. I just had a scare."

* * *

That night they made love again, this time slower, more relaxed. Will began to pull out when he was ready, but Elizabeth stopped him. "No," she whispered. " It's okay. Just this once." He felt a surge of love for his wife, a wonder at the sudden change of heart. He exploded inside her for the first time since their wedding night, and he had never been so happy. 


	5. Chapter 5

Part 5

I thought this was the end, but it turns out this is just theend of the beginning. Luckily I started writing the next part before I posted this one. Don't worry. Apart from my compelling storyline (which I didn't know I had) there will be more smut in the upcoming chapters. Just not this one. Sorry.

* * *

Jack Sparrow followed the road to the blacksmith shop, still limping as he walked. He hadn't been to Tortuga in almost four years. Ever since that day. . . But she had to get over it _eventually_, right? After all, he was Captain Jack Sparrow. No woman could resist him. It never occurred to him that they all hated him as well.

The forge was the building out front, the house most likely one of the two smaller buildings in back. He heard the clanging of metal, so he went there first. "William Turner."

Will turned, and when he saw who it was, promptly dropped the horseshoe he was working on into a bucket of water. "Jack! How are you!" He rushed to meet his friend.

"I live." They hugged. "It's been a while."

"Years! I've wondered what's kept you away."

"You know how it is. You make enemies."

"No, _you_ make enemies, Jack. But come on, meet the family." He lead him through the

forge to the back door.

"Family, huh? So you and Elizabeth are quite settled down?"

"Well. . .actually. . ." The door opened up into a yard full of children. Four of them to be exact. A nearly teenaged girl sat under a tree darning socks while watching the other three play--a boy of roughly seven, and two younger children, one five, the other maybe three. The three smaller kids were playing a game of sword fighting with blunt wooden swords, jumping and diving all over the yard. All of the children were blond-haired and blue-eyed, except for the youngest.

"I know you haven't been this busy," Jack replied cautiously.

Will nodded grimly. "Come 'round to the front of the forge. I'll tell you about it."

"Elizabeth left me," he said heavily. "After little Willie was born. The other three are Louise's. She cleans house and takes care of things while I'm in the shop. I consider her and the children part of the family now."

"Left you? Elizabeth?"

"Took a set of my clothes and shipped off with a merchant trader bound for India. I got one letter saying she'd joined a pirate crew, and then nothing."

"Oh, Will. I'm sorry."

"It's all my fault, Jack." Jack could see the pain in Will's eyes. "I kept asking her for children--I knew she didn't want any. And just one day--once was all it took. I got Willie, and I love him. But I lost Elizabeth in the process. She was everything to me. And it's my fault. I worry about her everyday."

The dark-haired Willie came bounding around the corner of the building. "Papa! Louise says--" but he stopped short when he saw Jack. "Are you a pirate?" he asked, approaching the stranger with no fear.

Jack knelt down to the boy's level. "Aye. Captain Jack Sparrow."

"Jack Sparrow!" The boy spoke with a slight lisp. "I always play you when we play

pirates. Papa told us all about you!"

"Willie," Will said, getting his son's attention, smiling all the while. "What did Louise

want?"

"It's time to eat," the little boy replied. "Jack will stay for supper, wont he papa?"

"Well Jack?" Will asked.

Jack was watched the little boy watching him. "Sure."

"Huzzah!" Willie ran off again, and Will and Jack followed behind.

"How old is the lad?" Jack asked.

"Little over three."

"That so?"

Jack nodded to Louise in the house. "I remember you," she said almost immediately. "You're the man that--"

"You're the pretty lass from the House of the Dewy Trollop. I remember." He gave her a warning glare that she seemed understand.

"That's right. I never thought I'd see you in these parts again. But please, sit down." While they ate Jack watched Louise, who watched him, and he watched Willie, who watched him as well. Man and boy looked at each other intently through the whole meal. Jack concentrated on Willie so much that he didn't even notice Will. Who was watching man and boy as well. There was something about the child that was awfully familiar.

After they ate all headed outside, Jack's sudden appearance a minor holiday. "Here go," Jack told Willie as he rushed off to play with the other children. He set his hat on the child's head.

Willie grinned broadly under the beat up tri-corner and ran off. "He reminds me of you,

Mr. Sparrow," Louise said.

Will looked at Jack. "How'd you get that limp?"

"Long, boring story," Jack insisted. "I'd better get going."

"The last time you were in Tortuga you never stopped by. It was a little over four years ago, wasn't it?" Jack could see the gears turning in Will's head. "Elizabeth mentioned seeing you--talked about you a lot, actually before she left. And not necessarily in kind tones."

"Oh, I'm sure you know Jack and the ladies," Louise said curtly.

"I definitely better be going." Jack took off quickly. "The boy can keep the hat," he shouted over his shoulder.

If it was possible to break into a run, he would have, but the bullet still lodged in his leg made moving painful at times, and Will caught up with him without much effort. "Louise says she has something to tell me. I thought I'd check with you first."

"Will. I have nothing to say."

"You don't have to. Your face says it all."

"It was an accident."

"Nothing you do is an accident. Jack."

"I'm sorry."

"I've wondered. Often."

"It's not your fault that she left, and it's not the boy's, and it _certainly isn't mine_. She asked to come with me four years ago. And I was tempted. Tempted enough to. . .she would have gone anyway, Will. It was only a matter of time."

"I know. It's okay." The two men stood together in an uncomfortable silence. "Louise and I are expecting," Will said finally, smiling a little. "She wants another boy, so her son can inherit the forge. I told her it didn't matter, that I want a girl to name Elizabeth."

"Good for you, mate."

"Sometimes it's okay that things didn't work out. You can see Willie again, if you want. And if you ever see Elizabeth tell her…I don't know. Tell her that if she ever wants to see her son, she may. But she won't find a home here, even if she did want it."

He nodded. "I'll tell her."

"Come back often, Jack."

"I do regret my actions, if it's any consolation."

"Only because she shot you."

"I miss her too, you know."

"It doesn't matter anymore."


	6. Chapter 6

Part 6

Let me rephrase that. Chapter 6, Part II. : ) That sounds better. Welcome to the second half.

* * *

Elizabeth wasn't asleep as she lay in her bunk. She was sharing the room of the upper floor of the Rat Bastard Tavern with two strange men. The man below her snored too loud, and the man across the tiny room had not bathed in a very long time. Though her own bedding didn't smell all to clean either, it none-the-less made for an even less pleasant sleeping experience.

She had gone through a lot in the years she had gone to sea. As soon as the baby was eating solid foods she had left, and never looked back. She chose her ships based on their charter. If the ship was heading for Tortuga she would find another. Sometimes she spent several months stranded in one Caribbean town or another, unable to find a ship suitable for her needs.

She did whatever she could to keep her stomach fed and full of rum, usually dock work. The ships often needed an extra pair of hands to load or unload, and earned enough coin for a few meals.

If she wasn't working the docks, she was in the taverns offering her services as a letter writer to men who wanted to send news home to England or France. All those years under a tutor finally made useful, she forgave her father for forcing them on her. The letter writing made more money than the dock work, but she liked being out in the wind stretching her muscles.

Caught in the same town for going on six weeks, Elizabeth was ready to move on, but had to wait for just the right ship. She lay in her bunk and thought about ships and dock work and the stench of the man in the next bed. Slowly she began to fall asleep.

She did not think about her husband, son, or Jack Sparrow.

Jack was drunk. Normally he did not have a reason to be drunk, but this time he was perfectly justified. "First she shoots me in the leg and then she gives me a son. What's wrong with this picture?"

Ana Maria sighed. She had been listening to this for a week straight now. If she'd had any sympathy for him she would have lost it at this point. Fortunately for Ana Maria, the word 'sympathy' was not in her vocabulary. "So what are you going to do about it?" she asked finally.

"See, I've thought about that. I could track her down and kill her, but how could I murder my only son's mother? And anyway, I don't want to kill Elizabeth. I love Elizabeth. She reminds me of me at her age."

"When you were her age you had been out to sea for near ten years, had gained a ship by supernatural means, and had lost said ship, marooned by your own crew. Elizabeth Turner just spent a few years playing house, and a few more years playing pirate. If she's even still alive." Ana Maria knew how hard it was to pass as a man on a ship with little privacy. Even if Elizabeth had only gotten into half the messes that she had, there was a chance she might not have made it.

"What a stupid thing to say. She's alive. She's got my spirit." He looked proud as he said that, but then he drank from his bottle again, and he just looked drunk.

"This is why I don't like women," Ana Maria spat. "They'll turn even the most respectable man into a simpering fool. She's got your brain muddled up. Forget about her, forget about the kid, and remember that we're docking in Speightstown tomorrow to unload that shipment of opium. Which," she said, her voice rising, "I can honestly say was the dumbest thing we could have possibly ever stolen. We've never had problems of crew falling overboard before, and I can only blame it on the drugs."

"They got two choices when we picked up the stuff. I told them they could sell their equal share, or smoke it. I'm not one to take away a man's free will."

"If I were in charge things like this wouldn't happen."

"If you were in charge no one would have any fun. So it's a good thing you are _not_ in charge. Now, have a drink and get fun or get out."

Ana, fuming, stormed out of his cabin, leaving Jack to himself. "I hate women," Jack muttered.

Seeing the boy had been a shock. Whatever he had expected when going to the forge, it wasn't that. To see his own face staring back at him under his hat had been the one most frightening and thrilling experience in his entire life. He had been shot at, marooned and even hung, but that boy, with his face and Will's name, had never had him more scared in his entire life.

Suddenly everything changed. He had a _responsibility_.

Oh sure, Will hadn't asked him for a thing. But he did ask him to visit, and he couldn't visit his son without presents, and then there was making sure Willie (God, what name) had a proper education. The public school in Tortuga was bound to be crap, which meant shelling out the cash for boarding school. And there was no way any son of his was going to apprentice to be a _blacksmith_. Then, down the line, he would teach him the family business. Being a father was hard work.

Jack continued to drink himself into a stupor until he passed out.


	7. Chapter 7

Part 7

I've never had so much fun _naming_ things in a story.

* * *

Elizabeth made her way to the docks late the next morning, scanning the port for new ships. She immediately shot down the possibility of the Gallant, which was the name of a slave ship that stopped in Speightstown on it's way to the Carolinas. Besides the fact that she disagreed with their human cargo, she had met several of the men that worked that ship, and the ones who weren't traumatized by the experience were cruel, ignorant beasts. She wouldn't last a day on such a ship.

There were many aspects to consider. If the ship was sailing to Tortuga was only one of them. Was the captain a fair man? If she were found out, would she run into any problems? Pirate ships were more hospitable to her, their crews being made up of an odd assortment of men to begin with, and more likely to harbor misfits. At worst, she would be asked to leave at the next port, and at best she would sail with them for several months before they made sail for Tortuga.

Merchant ships weren't always so kind, and she had learned fast who to make friends with in case she needed protection. She'd left behind a string of large, well-muscled men-- all broken hearted.

But in the end, she couldn't always protect herself (she had the scars to prove it), so she had to choose carefully.

The Broken Alliance was a pirate ship she had sailed with before--they knew who she was and even called her Mad Lizzy--but she had spoken to the first mate only the day before, and their next stop was Tortuga. The captain of the Kellie Mae hated women, and knew her to be one. She owed a man crewing the Virginia Jewel money, and after interviewing several crewmen of the Tudor Royale, she realized she wasn't clean enough to even be allowed on board.

She had a drink at the Rat Bastard, wrote letters for several men from the Kellie Mae, and checked the ships one last time. There was a sixth ship just coming into the harbor, and just by looking at it she knew there was no way she was setting foot on it.

She went back to the Bastard to get another drink.

* * *

Jack soberly conducted business in the opium den that was pleased to receive the discounted merchandise. A job well done, he paid the portion of the crew that had opted to sell, and went to spend his share on lots of alcohol.

The Rat Bastard was his favorite tavern in Speightstown. The serving girls were easy and fights broke out often. Jack took a seat at the bar and ordered an ale (not that he was usually an ale drinker, but the Bastard had the best in the Caribbean) and turned to people watch. Sisters Delia and Kit were working the dining room that night, and his spirits sunk. Delia was going to slap him, and Kit preferred the company of other women.

He had a second drink and considered starting a fight just for the fun of it when he saw Kit flirting with a young man across the room, which couldn't be right.

* * *

The girl showed up at Elizabeth's side with a fresh mug of ale and a generous slab of pound cake. "I didn't order this," Elizabeth said, barely looking up from her work. Love letters were her specialty, and she was constructing an elaborate one for an illiterate cabin boy who's sweetheart back in England was the daughter of an aristocrat, and therefore needed to be impressed.

"On the house," she said, and Elizabeth looked up when the girl put a hand on her shoulder. She was pretty, blond haired, and her blue dress made her eyes even more blue. The girl was smiling a little too widely at Elizabeth. _Another one_ Elizabeth thought.

On occasion girls, mistaking her for a very pretty boy, would flirt and give her free drinks. "That's very kind, but not necessary."

"I insist," the girl said. "Don't worry about it." She giggled.

"Well, if you're sure." After all, who was she to pass up free cake?

The girl lingered as she ate, reading the letter over her shoulder. "You have a girl back home then? It must be awfully lonely out here without her." The girl was getting too close for comfort. Before Elizabeth could correct her she continued. "If you want to come to my room, I'm sure we could alleviate that pain just a little bit."

"Look," Elizabeth said, pulling away. "I'm not--"

"A man? I know. I wouldn't be over here if you were."

* * *

"It's okay; she flirts with Ana Maria too," Jack said, coming up behind them. "Only Ana flirts back."

"Jack Sparrow!" Kit said, stepping away from Elizabeth. "Has my sister slapped you yet?"

"No, but I'm sure you'll send her my way."

"Ana Maria's in town?" Jack nodded, and Kit was gone in a flash. Elizabeth still had her back to him. "Elizabeth. Aren't you going to say hello?" She stood up from her seat and turned at the same time, pointing her pistol inches from Jack's face. "Not again!"

"You bastard."

Jack delicately reached up and took the pistol from her. It was easier than he thought it would be because her hand was shaking. "I'll give this back to you when I'm sure you aren't going to shoot me."

Elizabeth dropped back down in her chair and picked up her pen. To her chagrin, Jack sat down beside her. "My Dearest Joanna," he read. "Perhaps you didn't want to be saved then?"

"It's part of my work," she explained, her writing turning spikey as she picked up speed. "I have nothing to say to you."

"Maybe I have something to say to you. I've been to see your husband."

"You're free to do as you please." She continued to scribble, illegibly, and moved to dip her pen in the ink pot.

"I saw our son."

Her hand jerked, upsetting the ink all over her carefully (until the last few lines) scripted love letter. "Look what you've made me do!" she exploded, righting the bottle, covering her hands in ink in the process. "Do you know how much paper costs?" She shook her hands angrily, splattering Jack across the face. "How could you bring that up?"

"I wish you'd told me sooner."

"Not telling you was the point. Now go away. I don't want to see you again."

"What if I want to see the mother of my child."

"Don't say that! Do I look like a mother?"

"Obviously you're in denial."

"Look Jack. You lied to me, used me, destroyed my life. Can you blame me for wanting to escape and never see you, or--or it again?"

"His name is Willie, he's three years old, and he pretends he's a pirate on an old tree stump in the middle of your yard."

"Will's yard." She started packing up her writing supplies, crumpling the ruined letter. "Go away Jack, and let me alone. I can't deal with you." She grabbed back her pistol and rushed off.

Jack was left staring at her back as she exited the tavern. Well, how was he to know it would have gone so badly? He turned to go back to the bar and found himself face to face with a furious Delia, a plumper, prettier, meaner version of her younger sister. "Dearest Delia," he greeted her.

"Go to hell, Jack."

The side of his face was still tingling when he went to sleep that night.

* * *

In her smelly bunk, long after the other inhabitants of her room had passed out, Elizabeth cried herself to sleep. 


	8. Chapter 8

Part 8

I like Ana Maria.

* * *

"Captain?" Gibbs woke Jack the next morning.

"Mr. Gibbs, can't you see I'm busy?"

"It's almost noon and hardly any of the crew have come back."

"What on earth do you mean?" Jack scrambled to his feet. "Why not?"

Gibbs shook his head. "The opium sir. They've elected to stay behind, where they know they can get more."

"How many people do we have?"

"Counting the two of us? Seven."

"Well, that's enough."

"Hardly. You know I ain't comfortable with under sixteen hands aboard. I suggest we don't set sail until we can recruit some more men."

"Mr. Gibbs, why does the world hate me?"

"Because you're Captain Jack Sparrow?"

"Don't be sarcastic."

On deck Ana Maria was leaning against the rail and grinning. "Oh, shut up," Jack snapped. He sent the crew off to find new recruits and he himself returned to the Rat Bastard, but Elizabeth wasn't there, though he did find out she was staying in one of their upper rooms. Not that he knew what he would have said to her anyway. As far as he knew, once he had earned the wrath of a female, he had never once gotten forgiveness.

So he set to the task of finding a new crew, scanning the dock workers in the harbor. Elizabeth, he was surprised to see, was among them, loading crates at a ship he knew as the Broken Alliance.

He strode down the dock where she was unloading boxes from a cart. "Shipping out so soon?" he asked her, tensing in case she pulled a gun on him again. But she didn't.

"No," she replied. "Just moving boxes."

"Is this man bothering you, Lizzy?" One of the largest men Jack had ever seen came down the gangplank and put a humongous paw on Elizabeth's shoulder, completely enveloping it. Elizabeth came mid-way to the man's chest, and he towered over Jack by at least a foot.

"He is, but he'd be doing it even if he wasn't here, so let him be, George. He's not hurting anything."

"If you're sure. I wish you'd change your mind about sailing with us."

"You have no idea how much I want to, but I can't. You know that."

"You don't have to even leave the ship if you don't want to. I don't know why a place like Tortuga scares you so." Jack could see Elizabethstiffen under George's hand, but the giant didnt seem to notice. "You're too young to have enemies."

"But no one's too young to have a past. Look, if you expect your ship to get loaded, you'd better let me do my job."

George looked at Jack. "I'm watching you." And walked away. Jack let out a sigh of relief.

"He would have killed you if I asked him to," Elizabeth said, hefting another box to a man waiting impatiently for her to continue unloading the cart.

"I thank you for your mercy."

"I haven't forgiven you, you know."

"Story of my life, luv. I'm looking for new crew. You interested?"

"No." She didn't look at him, passing yet another crate. The cart was almost empty. "Certainly not. How could you even ask such a thing?"

"Because you want to go to sea, and none of these other ships seem suitable for your needs. We're not going to Tortuga. Never again, if that's what you want."

"There are dozens of men in this town looking for work. You don't need me."

"That's where you're wrong, Elizabeth."

* * *

She knew that tone of voice. It was the voice men used when they thought they were being sly when referring to sex. She couldn't believe the nerve of this man! Had shooting him not been enough? At the time she had been too upset to get proper satisfaction from the act. When it came to Jack Sparrow, she still wanted revenge.

Elizabeth handed down the last crate, and wiped the sweat from her forehead. "You need me?" she asked, a small smile on her face as she walked towards him.

"Of course! For tying rope and swabbing the deck and uh, other things. . ." Elizabeth had approached him until she was far too close for comfort.

"So you need me badly?" She reached out to stroke a lock of dreaded hair.

Jack looked away from her, but he didn't try to move. She could feel the heat of his body inches against hers, and somewhere deep inside her, unbidden, something cried out. _Yes!_

She pulled away, more her benefit than his, shaken. "I'll join your crew." She strode up the Broken Alliances gangplank to where George was standing, furious, she knew. (She'd turned down two marriage proposals from him.) "I'll be at the Pearl in an hour."

Jack gave her a slightly uneasy smile. "Wonderful."

* * *

The new crew was a much a ragtag bunch as the old crew. Jack surveyed them, Elizabeth not yet among the group. Strangely enough, he didn't know if he wanted her to change her mind or not.

"Kit! What are you doing here?" He had just noticed the girl at Ana Maria's side, dressed in a brand new outfit of men's clothing, shining new brown boots, and a new hat. He was almost envious of her hat.

"Tell her she can't, Captain," Gibbs said. "One female is more than enough. Two will sink us for sure. It's horrible bad luck."

Jack ignored him. "Kit, you do know that you'll have to work, and it's hard work that you don't know how to do."

"She's a fast learner," Ana Maria interrupted. "And she ain't afraid of hard work."

"You sure you want her here? I thought you didn't like women?"

Ana smiled a rare smile. "Just this one."

"Good enough for me! Well don't just stand around, you dogs! Prepare to cast off."

"And leave without me after begging so nicely?" Jack whirled around to see Elizabeth, a duffle slung over her slim shoulders, hair wrapped up and tucked under a worn leather hat.

Gibbs searched desperately for his flask. "We're all going to die."


	9. Chapter 9

Part 9

Another short chapter, so sorry! More fun w/ Mr. Gibbs.

* * *

The three women stood at the back of the bunk room as they watched Gibb's string up a curtain, effectively giving them their own room. "Is this necessary?" Elizabeth asked.

"No," Ana Maria spat back. "He's just trying to be annoying."

"Ana Maria, you ain't no lady," Mr. Gibbs said. "But Miss Elizabeth and Miss Kit here--"

"Mad Lizzy," Elizabeth interrupted.

"Just Kit" Kit agreed.

"Miss Elizabeth and Miss Kit are ladies and need their privacy."

"She's no lady," Elizabeth protested. "She propositioned me just last night!"

"What?" Ana Maria looked at Kit, who shrugged.

"Money's been tight."

Elizabeth scoffed. "You thought I was going to pay you for sex? Do I _look_ like I have to pay anyone to sleep with me?"

"Yes. How long has it been since you've bathed?"

Gibbs pulled the sheet to hide the bickering women, muttering to himself, "And so it starts."

* * *

Gibbs came to Jack, gulping from his flask. "They're already fighting."

Jack looked interested. "Fighting, really? Fists and pulling hair? Have they torn each others clothes off?"

"Words. Horrible screeching words."

"Oh. Ignore them."

"I don't think there's enough rum to last this trip. I think it may be about time for me to retire."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"There weren't no reason to bring Elizabeth with us, Jack. Now, you're a smart man, but when it comes to this woman you seem to be deeply stupid."

"Funny. That's what Ana says about you and your flask."

* * *

Elizabeth escaped Ana Maria and Kit. She just wanted to be alone, and found a secluded spot on deck. Surrounded by open sea, no land in sight, Elizabeth breathed deeply. It was good to be back on the water again. "Being on the ocean is like being in love," she said to herself.

"You're right," Jack said, coming up beside her.

"Yes," she said, covering her surprise. "Just like in love with you. Fierce and passionate, but she could turn on us any minute and rip this ship to pieces. Just like you."

"Hey, I'm the one who got shot here!"

She grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him to her. "I should have done more." She ran a hand down his chest, holding him by the belt buckle, two fingers between his trousers and the bare flesh of his stomach. "I should have found a way to make you suffer. Long and hard, pounding suffering that would leave you begging."

"Yer doing a fine job of it now, my dear."

"Good." She shoved him hard against the rail and walked away.

She steadied her breathing, feeling him looking at her back, and still feeling him on the backs of her fingers._ Be a man_, she told herself. _You're a pirate, now act like one_. She hated that Jack could still make her feel so. . .alive. "Damn Jack Sparrow to hell."

* * *

Later that night Jack smiled to himself. "She's in love with me." Things were going to get interesting. He liked interesting. 


	10. Chapter 10

Part 10

Took me longer to write this than I thought. Many apologies. Still, I wish my original works moved as smoothly as this story.

* * *

"You all right?" Elizabeth asked, coming up to Kit, who was sitting on some stairs with her head in her lap. Elizabeth uncorked the bottle she was holding and took a long swig.

"Yes," Kit snapped. "I'm fine."

"Look. We're going to be on this ship together for quite some time, and if I'm going to be antagonistic about someone, they're going to be at the end of my sword, and I don't think you know how to fight."

"That a threat?" She still hadn't raised her head, her hat missing (blown off into the water the day before), the girl's once beautiful hair blowing in knotted strands in the wind.

"I'm asking to call a truce."

Kit looked up, a little green, face streaked with tears. "I have never worked so hard in my entire life. I hurt everywhere all the time and I'm throwing up half of what I eat."

"You'll get over it."

"I doubt it."

"Drink?" Kit took one look at the bottle offered to her and bolted to the side of the ship. "I guess not," Elizabeth said over the retching sounds coming from Kit's region. Ana Maria appeared at Kit's side, rubbing her back and pulling away her tangled hair. Elizabeth shook her head and went off in the other direction.

She saw Jack at the wheel watching them and went to join him with the vague idea of insulting him. "I don't understand those two," she said instead when she got to his side.

"Ana Maria and Kit? What's not to understand? They want each other."

"Yes, but it's obvious that Kit is miserable. I don't see why she came. It's not worth it."

"Sometimes someone is worth a lot. I don't know if Ana Maria is worth it, but to each his own I suppose. Will thought you were worth something, long ago."

"And he was wrong, wasn't he?"

"Oh, I don't know about that. A man could get himself in a fair amount of trouble for you and not mind one bit. I'm sure several of them have."

"That's beside the point."

* * *

Jack was very aware of Elizabeth, who was probably not aware of how close she had leaned into him. Or maybe she was. "I find it interested that you decided to accept my invitation when you so vehemently want me dead."

"Not dead. But very very close. Don't you realize what you put me through these last four years?"

"I'm starting to form a mental picture, yes."

"I really don't think you are. That one afternoon ruined everything. Being with you was the biggest mistake of my life. And it's all your fault."

"I did try to apologize before you shot me." It wasn't that Jack didn't care for Elizabeth's feelings. He was in fact, trying to avoid that guilty feeling he sometimes got in the pit of his stomach when it came to the few acts in his lifetime that he regretted. Not that sleeping with Elizabeth was one of them. In fact, that day had been a highlight of his thirty-nine years, and thought the limp had been a small price to pay.

"Apologize! It's not enough, Jack. I had to face Will for almost two years knowing that the baby wasn't his. He still doesn't know." Elizabeth walked over to the railing, looking out over the water instead of at Jack. He followed her anyway.

"He _does_ know. It's okay though. He still loves him."

"Well, I suppose it's good that someone does."

"I'm prepared to love him too. He's the spitting image of me you know. Looks great in my hat."

"I don't want to talk about this."

"Fine."

Of course, it wasn't fine. Jack's sudden fatherhood was a big deal to him, and felt that it should be for Elizabeth as well. After all, it took both of them to create this problem, and she was bent on pretending it had never happened.

* * *

Elizabeth avoided looking at him. He couldn't know how it had been. Guilt weighing so heavy on her heart that every time she looked at Will she felt like she was drowning. The baby had been even worse. She could see Jack in the child long before Will probably had, blind with love as he was, and hated it for that reason.

She hated the baby because of Jack, and she hated Jack because of the baby. If nothing had come of their union, shooting him may have been enough to quell her anger, but something had.

Having a child was the singularly most traumatic event in her life. She never knew the meaning of pain until she went into labor, and afterwards there was this helpless little animal, crying and smelling and needing constant attention. When she breastfed she felt like the little parasite was sucking the life out of her.

Just thinking about it made her so angry that she stood shaking next to Jack. "You ruined me, Jack," she whispered. "I haven't been happy since that moment you held me in your arms, and I thought I was going to run away with you forever."

"I don't think you quite understand the matter. You wanted to abandon dear William and run away to be a pirate, and you did. He wanted a son, and he got one. The way I see it, I'm the one who got the short end of the stick, luv."

"Oh? And what is it that you didn't get?"

"Well, if you hadn't shot me, I might have changed me mind in a couple months and come back for you. In fact I _did_, but I figured you'd just shoot me again, so by self preservation, I let things be."

On the rail he put a rough hand over Elizabeth's own work-worn hands. "Whatever my intentions, I never meant to cause you real pain, as I obviously have. But it takes two, luv, and last I checked, this is as much your fault as it is mine."


	11. Chapter 11

Part 11

Smutty goodness in this chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

Elizabeth slammed into the new girl's dormitory, content to be alone while she worked through her anger, but Ana and Kit were both there, Ana sitting on her bunk with Kit's head in her lap, stroking the sickly blond's hair. "I hate Jack Sparrow!" Elizabeth said instead, kicking at the old trunk at the foot of her bunk so hard her boot smashed through the rotted wood. "Dammit!"

"Calm down!" Ana Maria said forcefully. "Here, drink something." Without disturbing Kit she reached for the bottle sitting on top of her own trunk and offered it to Elizabeth who snatched it up and began to guzzle the alcohol. "Not so fast, you'll be sick. I've already got one invalid here, andI don't need another."

Elizabeth collapsed into the other lower bunk. "I hate him," she said again.

"Join the club," Ana said.

"What'd he do to you?" Kit questioned, turning in Ana Maria's lap to face her.

Elizabeth took another drink while still laying down, and promptly began to choke. Kit rolled her eyes as Elizabeth coughed. "He told me the truth," she said between gasps of air once she had recovered. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Isn't it just awful when men are honest?" Ana said drolly.

"I just want him to pay," Elizabeth told them. "I want him to pay for being a bastard, and I want him to suffer because I have, and I don't want to think about it being my fault too."

"What on earth is she going on about?" Kit asked Ana.

"Her husband is raising she and Jack's baby and she doesn't want to live up to the responsibility," the other woman replied.

"You and Jack?" Kit asked, suddenly interested enough to sit up.

"Once, four years ago. He said if I did he'd take me with me."

"That bastard! You're right, he does deserve to pay. Its just like him to do something like that. He told my sister that she was the only one, but there are dozens of women, you know? Probably one for every island in the Caribbean! And Jack, you know he never pays. Charms his way into their beds, he does, and it's all a lie. In the morning he's a completely different person."

"Not with me. He's just a bastard through and through."

"Then you should do something about it."

"Should I?"

Ana Maria got up from the bunk. "I want nothing to do with any of this. I'm going above deck with the sane people. I hate women. . ."

Kit watched Ana Maria go. "She's just saying that. Now, about your revenge. . ."

* * *

Jack loved the sea at night. He was the only one above deck, not doing anything in particular, just standing at the wheel and staring out over it's vastness. Not an island in sight, the crew all asleep below deck, he felt like the only person on earth. It was a good feeling. "As the last man on earth," he said to himself, "I declare myself to be king. Hmm. Your majesty Jack Sparrow, emperor of the world. I like the sound of that."

"You like the sound of what?" Elizabeth's voice brought him out of his daydreaming. He hadn't even noticed her come up.

"When you're truly alone," he said. "You can be king of the world, and no one can tell you otherwise."

"You're so conceited." She came up beside him. "I've been thinking about what you said, Jack."

"Don't do that. I don't know what I'm saying half the time and you know it."

"I mean it. I don't think you're entirely wrong. And I want to make it up to you."

"And how are you going to do that?"

Elizabeth gave him a smile that he didn't quite trust and slipped herself between him and the wheel. After all these years Elizabeth was just as slim and beautiful as she always had been. Her arms snaked around his neck and she pulled him close. "I've missed you, you know. Even while I was hating you."

"Is this a trick?"

"You tell me." She kissed him, and if it was a set-up, he didn't care. Because this was Elizabeth that he wrapped in his arms. Elizabeth who danced with him around the fire, and put herself between him and a dozen guns. Who trusted him enough to go to bed with him, and gave him exactly what he deserved when he betrayed her. Elizabeth who understood him, because they were the same.

He groaned underneath her lips and pushed her up against the wheel as their mouths franticly attacked each other. After all, Jack had four years of catching up to do.

"Elizabeth, please," Jack muttered into her ear, pulling at her clothes.

"Not yet." She was pulling his shirt over his head, and they were falling together on the deck. Jack ran his hands over her body, feeling the swell of her breasts and the pert nipples beneath the fabric, wanting desperately to rip through it.

Leaning up against the back of the wheel, he groaned as she straddled him, slowly lowering herself onto his lap and grinding against him. He could feel the pressure building--he wanted her so badly. He reached for her, but she caught both his wrists and pinned them against the wood over his head. "This is new, luv," he said, voice guttural. "I like it."

She pressed her body against him, and still holding his wrists with one hand, pulled free from her hair the long scarf used to tie it back. As he let her tie his wrists to the wheel, he became so hard it was almost painful. "You're at my mercy, Jack," she said as she crawled down his body, her face inches from his crotch as she undid his belt.

He suddenly felt cold at her words. At her mercy. Dozens of acts, each one more terrible than the last, flooded his mind. "I think I've changed my mind," he said as she pulled down his breeches and removed his boots, efficiently leaving him totally naked. His cock stood at full attention despite his sudden fears.

She straddled him again, still fully clothed. "Now we're even, Jack," she told him, and he didn't miss the tone of satisfaction in her voice.

"Untie me."

She wiggled a little on his lap, and he held back a moan. "No, I don't think I will."

"I'm your captain. That means you have to do as I say, savvy?"

"I can fix that."

She left him alone and naked, tied to his own ship. He pulled against the scarf, but the fabric was strong, and the only thing he succeeded in doing was pulling the knots tighter. Elizabeth returned a few minutes later, and Jack breathed a sigh of relief. "Fun's over luv. Untie me and let me go."

She knelt in front of him and unscrewed the bottle of ink she had brought with her and dipped a finger into the black liquid. "What's that for? What are you writing?" He shivered as she ran her ink covered finger across his chest. "Elizabeth, don't do this."

When she was finished she capped the bottle and stood up. "Goodnight, Jack. Sweet dreams."

"Elizabeth? Elizabeth!"

* * *

Jack dozed on and off between attempting to fight his hands free, spending the entire night naked tied to the wheel. He was amazed how long it took for him to loose his erection despite this most dire predicament.

A little past sunrise he woke to female giggling, and consciousness overtook him all at once. "Ana Maria! Finally. Quick, untie me."

"Oh no. I couldn't possibly. Your chest says 'property of Captain Mad Lizzy.' Apparently you're no longer in charge, so I don't have to take orders from you. Hey Kit! Look at this! Gibbs, Cotton!"

"No, no. Don't do that." He struggled against his bounds yet again. "I'm going to kill her."

About half the crew assembled to see their captain's predicament before Gibbs cut him free. "I tried to warn ye. Didn't I?"

"You did." Jack pulled his pants on as quickly as possible. "All right, shows over. To work, before I start throwing people overboard. Somebody find me Elizabeth!"


	12. Chapter 12

Part 12

I'm very angry. I lost the first page of this and had to reconstruct it, and I'm pretty sure it was better the first time.

* * *

Elizabeth entered Jack's cabin. "You wanted to see me, _sir_?"

Jack was scrubbing at the ink stains on his chest with a rag. "What exactly was the idea of trussing me up like that?"

"Properly thanking you for abandoning me, working out issues I've been carrying for the last four years, and forgiving you?"

"Well thanks to you, I have lost the respect of the entire crew!"

"Begging your pardon, but some of them didn't respect you to begin with."

Jack threw the rag to the floor. "Gibbs was right about letting women aboard. They don't follow orders, they're rude, disrespectful, annoying, and if you ever do that to me again I will be forced to shove you against the wall and violently ravish you many times over, because my libido cannot take much more of this."

"You're not angry then?"

"I'm furious."

"So what are you going to do about it?"

"Nothing. You are going to keep your distance today, because I can't promise I won't hurt you."

"And if I'd like it?"

"Out! Now!"

* * *

Jack Sparrow wanted to shoot something. _Badly_. He wanted to watch a painful, writhing death. But not Elizabeth's. No, for some reason Elizabeth was immune. If it had been any other member of the crew. . .well it wouldn't have been, because there was no way the situation would ever arise. Even Ana Maria could have kissed him and said she wanted him and he would have laughed in her face. But Elizabeth...

_How do I get myself in these messes?_ He thought as he pulled on his shirt. A faint shadow of her words still remained on his skin, and would for days to come. He would have gone back for her four years ago. Should have gone back for her. Not that it would have done any good, what with her carrying the child. His child. Now that he was used to the idea, he rather liked it. He wished Elizabeth felt the same.

* * *

Elizabeth made herself scarce, but she did it with a lighthearted air. It have been four years since she had felt so good. She'd been able to fall asleep the night before without dwelling on the past, that sick feeling of hatred towards Jack having melted away as she tied him to the wheel. For the first time since she had gone to sea she felt the freedom that she had been searching for.

The only thing niggling her in the back of her mind was Will. But she knew you had to take small steps with this sort of thing, and she would deal with Will in good time. It was strange, the time she had spent with him almost felt like a dream. A good dream that made you happy even after you woke up. If she'd been smart she still could have had that dream to come back to on occasion, but she'd turned it into a nightmare on her own and there was no way she would go back to sleep.

_Freedom_, she told herself again, pushing Will out of her mind. _Freedom and Jack_.

* * *

"You're not letting him off that easily, are you?" Kit asked her. They were eating dinner sitting on boxes above deck: boiled potatoes, salt pork, and hard tack. Actually Kit was just eating the hard tack, not being able to keep much more down than the crackers.

"I think we're even."

"You're not the only person he hurt, Lizzy."

"Well, that's not my business, and I've been angry long enough. I deserve to be happy, and whether I like it or not, Jack is part of that happiness." Elizabeth looked down at her plate. She could cook better, but since she hated standing in front of a stove for any amount of the time, she didn't care what her food tasted like. "I wanted to go to sea when I was eight. When I was eighteen, I wanted to go to sea with Jack."

"Well, I never wanted to go to sea."

"So why did you?"

"She asked me." Kit looked over at Ana Maria, laughing with the other men. "You have to decide which is more important, and I knew I could never have her any other way. You know she's almost got enough money saved to buy her own boat. So I'm destined to spend the rest of my life on the water. . .throwing up."

"You shouldn't sacrifice yourself for anyone."

"You don't understand. Everything you've ever done has been in your own self-interests. Abandoning your husband with a baby? Real women don't do that. The only person I've ever met who's as selfish as you is Jack. So I guess you _are _meant for each other."

Elizabeth got up with her empty plate. "I guess we are."

* * *

"What would you do," Jack asked Gibbs, "if the woman you loved tied you naked to a ship's wheel and humiliated you in front of your entire crew?"

"I'd dump her overboard, along with any other females that happened to be wandering around the ship."

"You're no help."

"Well what am I supposed to tell you? I'd never take a woman that would have the gall to do such a thing." He grinned. "I like them supple and yielding."

"Yes, but that's boring. I like a girl with a little fire."

"Which is why you get slapped so much. Miss Elizabeth isn't a woman; she's a storm, unpredictable and dangerous."

"I like storms."

"You're not going to be able to control her and keep her at the same time. She'll just resent you for trying. If you hit her--"

"I would never do that."

"Just as well, because she'd just shoot you. The woman's got an itchy trigger finger."

"I remember."

"So I don't know what you should do."

But Jack had been thinking. "Mr. Gibbs? Set a course for Tortuga."


	13. Chapter 13

Part 13

A comment on the last chapter said this was one of the funniest serious stories they'd read. Well it wasn't supposed to be serious. It just kind of happened. Joss Whedon (who taught me to write--he just doesn't know it) has a perfect blend of funny and dramatic, which is what I've been striving for in this story.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Jack looked up at the sound of Elizabeth's voice inside the doorway of his cabin. "You don't still want to hurt me, do you?"

"Never again," he promised. Jack held up the chunk of drift wood he'd been whittling at. "It's a duck."

"What?"

"It will be a duck. I hope." At the moment the wood was only vaguely duck-shaped. It had been a while since he'd done any carving, but slowly the art was returning to his fingers.

"Why?"

"I like ducks," he offered as an explanation. "What is it that you want, Elizabeth?"

"I was just wondering what came next."

"Well, get in here and shut the door." He set aside his project and stood. "What do you want to come next? Because I'm fairly flexible."

"I want it all. I want to stay on the Pearl, and I want to be with you, and only you."

"Doable."

"Good."

"So now what?"

She smiled. "You could start by kissing me. I haven't really kissed you in years."

"What was last night?" He offered a hand and pulled her to him.

"Last night was an act. It doesn't count. Lets start new, Jack." She was pressed up against him, mouths inches away. "Pretend it's the first time for everything."

* * *

It was easy for Elizabeth to pretend it was the first time, because it had been so long. There had been men of course, but they never got all of her. Not since. . . . She had been saving herself for this very moment, even if she hadn't realized it. When their lips met she came home.

She thrust her tongue into his mouth, devouring him, as they backed into the bed, falling together on the narrow mattress. She could feel the energy crackling and surging between them. "God, Elizabeth," Jack groaned beneath her. "You have no idea what you've been doing to me these last few days."

She slipped a hand between them and felt him though his trousers. "Yes I do," she answered coyly, giving him a squeeze that caused him to buck against her.

"Keep that up, luv," he said as she continued to stoke him through his clothes, "and this isn't going to last long enough to get you naked."

Clothes started to disappear between them, being replaced with hands and mouths, but when Jack moved to pull off her shirt she stopped him. "Don't," Elizabeth said, pushing his hands away. "Not now."

"I want to see you."

"Not now," she said again, escaping from his hands and traveling down his body to take his harness into her mouth. He stopped asking questions.

"This is not how I want to finish this," he told her after a few moments. As soon as she lifted her head he deftly switched positions so that she was beneath him. "I'm not going to let you have all the fun here." She gazed up into his face as he separated her wet folds and delved a finger inside of her, then another. "Promise me that you're going to scream," he said as he lowered his head.

His mouth between her legs was too much for her, and she cried out so that she knew people outside of the cabin heard her, but she didn't care. "Jack," she gasped as he

His strokes matched her breathing and their hearts beat in unison as the two moved together, each clutching at the other, trying to make two bodies one. Their movement was slow and measured, as Jack held back as long as he could, but soon enough he came in great bursts inside of her, and he collapsed into her arms.

* * *

They slept for a while, Jack smiling when he woke in Elizabeth's arms. Her shirt was twisted around her, revealing her stomach. "Pet?" he whispered, rousing her with little trouble.

"I'm sleeping," she replied, lips spreading into a smile.

"No you're not."

"Am too."

"Why won't you take off your shirt?"

She twisted around in the bed to face him, serious. "The first time, you remember what I said? That I wanted to have your body, your scars?"

"I remember." He let her trace the bullet scars on his chest, and the branded 'P' on his wrist.

"I didn't know what it meant before. I thought it meant that you had been on adventures, that you had done exciting things. I didn't think about the pain that came from those scars."

"Luv?"

"I was foolish and naïve. I'm not the same woman I was. . .I was just a girl back then." She sat up and pulled up both sleeves of her shirt so he could see the matching scars encircling each wrist where rope had dug deep into her flesh.

"Elizabeth. . ."

"The least of it." She finally pulled her shirt over her head, leaving her nude.

The light in the room wasn't perfect, but he could see.A slash on her shoulder that had healed into a thick white seam, another on her upper arm. But his attention was drawn to the two inch long scar over her left breast. "Oh, Elizabeth." The pirate brand was red against her smooth skin. "What did they do to you?"

"Enough. It was bad. It was horrible. The rest of the crew got sent to jail or hung, but not me. They had much better plans for me. And then I got this, so I wouldn't ever forget."

"It wouldn't have happened if you'd been with me."

"I know." She let out a sigh, running her fingers over the brand. "I try to pretend I got it on purpose, like a tattoo. And anyway," she forced a smile. "If I could go back to before, and be Lizzy Turner the blacksmith's wife, I wouldn't. It's a pirate's life for me, and I could never be happy any other way. We all have our scars. They can only make us stronger."


	14. Chapter 14

Part 14

Okay. Really short chapter here. Sorry 'bout that. For the record, Elizabeth's methods are all historically correct, and, to a degree, did work. But I wouldn't suggest trying them at home. Because that would be deeply stupid.

* * *

"You and Jack been pretty busy," Kit said a few days later, sliding down a rope to surprise Elizabeth as she walked by. She had finally recovered from her sea-sickness, and was starting to get the hang of working on a ship. 

"So?"

"We going to be expecting another little bundle of joy anytime soon?"

"Sometimes I don't like you, Kit." Elizabeth dug into her pocket and revealed a small, bowl shaped disc of beeswax. "Once you've been in the world a while you learn your lesson."

"What is that?"

"It's a plug. Use your imagination."

"That's unnatural," Kit called after her as she walked away.

"And what you do isn't?" Elizabeth passed Ana Maria as she continued her walk to Jack's cabin. "I'm dumping her overboard," she told Ana, and didn't wait for a reply.

* * *

Jack was working on his duck again. He sat tilted back in a chair, feet up against his desk as he took special care on one of its wings. "We're almost out of lemons," she told him. 

"So?" He barely looked up from his work.

"You can't make love to me until we get more."

This got Jack's attention. "What on earth are you going on about?"

"I don't want a baby."

"Enlighten me, luv, because I am very confused."

"One of the first things I did when I set out on my own was find out, you know, preventions. Lemon juice. And yams. Yams are even better, but you have to eat them every day. We should get some yams."

"Bollocks. You sound insane. I don't get what your problem is with babies anyway. They're fun."

"No."

Jack sighed. He really wanted to talk about their son, but Elizabeth was dead set against it. He could tell from the tone of her voice that if he pushed the matter, she would be forced to smack him. "I promise we will get more lemons at the very next island we come to."

"Alright."

"How many do we have left?"

"Two."

"That's not very many."

"No, it isn't."

"I'd better tell the wind to blow faster."

* * *

Despite the lack of citrus fruits aboard, Elizabeth had never been so content in her life. "Yo ho, you ho a pirates life for me," she sang to herself as she did her work. She couldn't help but look up from the rope she was coiling to watch Jack at the wheel, looking so tall and important. 

If she had known all this was going to happen, she may have never married Will in the first place. Things were so confusing, and had lead to so much trouble. But to have never had Jack in her life. . .it was unthinkable. And to never have had Will either. . .He was a good man and a good husband. And probably a good father. She had just been a terrible wife, a horrible mother. _All my fault again, as usual_, she whispered to herself.

_What of the child?_ she couldn't help but wonder. Did he look as much like Jack as he did when she left him? Would he grow up to be a blacksmith? Or a pirate? Not many children had the blood of two pirate parents running though their veins. It was pointless to wonder. She was too much of a coward to face the biggest mistake of her life. The very idea of going back after all the time that had passed made her sick to her stomach. But Jack wanted her to.

Would she lose the man she loved over the child she never wanted? She was going to try her best to never have to find out.


	15. Chapter 15

Part 15

Its almost over, and I mean it this time. One more part.

* * *

"Land ho, luv," Jack told Elizabeth next afternoon. This was fortunate, as they had used the last lemon that morning.

"Good." Elizabeth pushed him against the outside wall of his cabin and kissed him deeply. His hands wandered over her body, and even though they were in full view of the crew, she reached between their tightly pressed bodies to give him a squeeze through his pants. "That'll encourage you to sail faster."

* * *

Elizabeth watched as they approached land, Jack standing behind her. He had been hovering most of the morning. "I know that island." Elizabeth felt her body grow cold all over. "Jack, you bastard. You promised me." They were in view of the Tortuga port, and Elizabeth could just make out the shapes of the buildings of the town in the distance. She leaned further over the rail of the ship, as if attempting to make out Will's house (she stopped thinking of it as 'theirs' the day she left) through the trees.

"Pirate."

"I'll pirate you!" She turned as she reached for her pistol, but found it missing from her belt.

"Not this time, luv." He held it up. "Nicked it while you had me pressed up against the wall earlier. Now, whether you like it or not, we're going to have a proper family. No son of mine is going to be motherless."

"No son of yours! You didn't even know he existed until a month ago. It shouldn't matter to you."

"Well it does matter, and it should to you too. You're his bloody mother! I can understand that you didn't want to have a child. I can understand why you hated the circumstances in which you came by him. But he's a human being and deserves the love of his parents."

Elizabeth looked like she'd been slapped in the face. "Well," he asked. "What have you got to say for yourself?"

"You think I'm a horrible person."

"You're no worse than the rest of us. What I think is that you're a woman who is running scared from her problems, and that wont make them go away. It has nothing to do with you being a bad person. But you need to get over yourself and think of other people's needs for a while."

She turned on her heel and stalked off, moving quickly to hide herself in the bunk room.

* * *

"I don't hate women," Jack told Gibbs a few minutes later. "Just that one." 

"Aye. You're problem, Jack, is that you fell in love with a woman who wants to be a man. Ain't nothing worse than lasses like Miss Elizabeth and Ana Maria."

"I love Elizabeth. And Ana Maria--on slightly different levels mind you. They're wonderful. I just can't stand either of them."

"Then you are a fool."

"One day the world will be populated with women just like them."

"Hopefully I'll be long dead by then."

* * *

"Stop being such a baby," Kit told Elizabeth after she had confided to Kit (while flopped out on her bunk with her face buried in her pillow) what Jack had said to her.

"I am not."

"You're being a selfish brat."

"You don't understand. I'm so ashamed."

"You just don't like that Jack's right. And he is right."

"I hate him."

"Get over it and go see your son."

"You think I'm a monster too, don't you?"

"I think you're insane."

"It's not just the boy. It's Will. How can I ever face him again?"

"I think that you need to be talking to Jack about this. I hate to say it, but he's a good man with a decent head on his shoulders--not that it's easy to tell, mind you--and he cares about your feelings. But his feelings matter, and so does the kid's, and your husband's."

* * *

By the time Elizabeth had the nerve to face Jack again, she was well on her way to being drunk. She could feel the ship swaying beneath her feet, and she clutched the bottle of rum even tighter, as though it would keep her from falling over. She nearly stumbled into him.

"Wonderful," Jack spat. "Now she's a lush on top of everything else."

"I'm not drunk," Elizabeth protested. "Not yet. I will be."

"Give me that bottle." Jack snatched it from her hand and took a long drink. "What am I going to do with you? I love you, but at the same time, you make me extremely angry."

"You love me?"

"Of course I do."

"But I'm--I'm not. . . I'll see him," she said finally. "For you. I don't want to lose you. But I think it's a mistake."

"No it isn't."

"I'm going to need that back." She reached for the bottle, and he pulled it away.

"Neither of us are going into this inebriated, luv." He looked at the bottle and took a last drink before he pitched it into the water as far as he could.

Elizabeth rushed to the rail, but it had already been lost in the waves. "That wasn't necessary."

"I wouldn't waste good rum unless it was," Jack insisted. "We'll be docking within the hour."

"I don't want to."


	16. Chapter 16

Part 16

I can't believe this story started with the question "wouldn't it be funny if?" and I had every intention of it being funny. I don't normally like giving people children in fanfics, but I think this went rather well. Better than most variations of the theme anyway. I'm glad I skipped the pregnancy bit though, pregnancy stories are so sappy and gross.

oxoxoxoxox

"I can't do this," Elizabeth said as they walked down the road to the blacksmith shop. There were more houses between the town and the shop; everything had changed. There were more people--the town was slowly growing. Soon it would be a city. The strangeness unnerved her and made the place feel even less like home than it ever did. 

"Yes you can." Jack took her hand in his, and strangely enough this simple gesture did comfort her. "You don't have to tell him who you are if you don't want to."

"Doesn't that defeat the purpose?"

"Not necessarily." He stopped dead on the path so he could look at her. "I just want you to see what we made. You and I, together, the both of us. He's us." He grinned. "So how can you not love something made by two such beautiful people?"

"That's a very vain perspective." She looked into Jack's eyes, and saw pleading to make this thing work. "You may be right," she said finally. "He has our blood, and Will raised him. Willie's probably the perfect child." It was the first time she had said his name, or even allowed herself to think it, in a long time. It didn't hurt on her tongue as much as it used to.

"That's the spirit, luv. By the way, what's his middle name?"

"Weatherby, after my father," she said apologetically.

"Willie Weatherby Sparrow? God, Elizabeth. Kill me now why don't you!"

"Will decided, not me. I didn't care."

"Well you should have considered my feelings when it came to the matter. Would Jack Jr. been too much to ask for?"

They turned around a bend in the road and the forge came into view in front of them. Elizabeth bit her lower lip. "I can't. I'm afraid." There was a lump of ice filling her entire stomach, and she felt suddenly frozen to the spot.

"I'll be with you."

"What about Will?"

"He'll be fine. He's adapted well. It's time to start fixing everything we've broken, Elizabeth."

The forge was silent, but there was all sorts of commotion coming from the yard behind it--the sound of hammering, and the sound of children's voices. Jack felt Elizabeth's hand tighten around his to the point that it was almost painful, but he said nothing.

"I should have brought him something," Elizabeth said abruptly as they started towards the back door. Jack was toting the finished driftwood duck in his free hand, the other still held tight in Elizabeth's grasp. It was surprising how guilty the little wooden toy made her feel. Jack had met him once, and already he loved him enough to spend hours making him a present. Elizabeth had given birth to him, but all she felt was emptiness. Maybe…

oxoxoxoxo

The yard was a whirl of activity with children seemingly everywhere. The hammering sound was Will on the roof of what would be a new room added onto the tiny cottage he and Elizabeth had shared for three years before she left him. "What the hell is all this?" Elizabeth asked Jack as the children noticed them and the boys rushed the two, the dark haired child wearing a three cornered hat far to large for him leading the stampede. 

"Captain Sparrow!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "Papa! It's Captain Sparrow!" 

For a split second Jack had the elated feeling that the boy had called him Papa, but that was a name that was reserved for Will. He recovered from the shock quickly and bent down to the boy's level. "Ahoy Willie. I brought you something." He handed the duck to him. "You gotta share it with your brothers though," he smiled at Louise's younger children.

Jack straightened and looked at Elizabeth, who was not staring at the boy, but at her husband. Will had dropped his hammer and perched frozen on the roof. "Lizbeth," Jack muttered softly, breaking her gaze.

"Jack?"

"Boys!" he moved back into his 'speaking to children' tones. "This is Mad Lizzy, she works on my ship. Lizzy, this is Dan, Harry, and Willie."

Elizabeth looked at the children like a frightened deer, and made no move to greet them, standing rooted to the spot. He nudged her gently in the side, and she was stiff as a board. 

oxoxoxox

But Willie approached her, clutching the wooden duck in both hands. "You can't be a pirate! You're a girl!"

"So?" she asked finally, not sure how to reply. She had never spoken to a child in her entire life.

"Girls can't be pirates. Girls mend stocking and cook and have babies like Louise."

"Louise?" Elizabeth was momentarily distracted. "Jack?" she turned back to him, full of questions. 

Before he could answer Will had appeared at their sides. "Willie, go play." He looked at Elizabeth long and hard. "You came back."

"I did."

"Are you planning on staying?"

Staying? What world was Will living in? "We've both moved on and you know it. Louise? From the Dewy Trollop?"

"Like you said, I moved on. She needed me. It's nice to be needed. I never got that from you."

"I'm sorry." She had never felt so awkward in her entire life. "So do you want. . .anything. . .from me?" 

"Want something? From you?" His laugh was bitter. "What I want from my wife; lets see. I'd like her to be in my kitchen, taking care of our children, in my bed? Richer for poorer, sickness and health? I'm pretty sure we both got the same speech that day. There was nothing in it about abandonment or running away to be a pirate." Elizabeth felt like someone had just tossed a bucket of cold seawater in her face. 

"Will, darling? Who's here?" Louise stepped out of the house, growing large under her dress. She froze inside the doorway, her hands covered in flour up to her elbows. Elizabeth stared over Will's shoulder, as still as her counterpart until she finally sighed and stepped towards her.

"I'm glad it was you," Elizabeth told her, face stony.

"I'm glad you left," Louise replied, her face reflecting Elizabeth's. 

Elizabeth slowly broke into a small smile. "I can't believe you're doing this again." She placed a hand on Louise's belly. "Wait a minute. Is this my dress?"

Louise laughed. "Come help me with the baking. Give Will time to let that slow brain of his process things."

oxoxoxoxoxo

Will and Jack took a walk around the forge. "I can't believe you found her," he told the other man. 

"Have you forgotten? I'm--"

"Captain Jack Sparrow, I know. I still didn't think I'd ever see her again. I wonder if it's good that you've brought her back."

"Elizabeth and I, we're honest. There is a wrong here that needs to be righted, and we plan on following through." He took a bag of coins from his belt and pressed it into Will's palm. "I know, I know," he said when Will attempted to protest. "You don't need my money. Take it anyway. There's a lot more where that's coming from. You'll be seeing us often."

"It isn't necessary."

"Does that mean that you don't want us?"

"You have a right to see him. And it doesn't hurt as bad as I thought it would--she doesn't even look like my Elizabeth anymore. I suppose. . .I suppose she looks like yours." He looked at Jack, daring him to admit the affair.

But Jack wouldn't bite. "So you'll let us come again?"

"Yes."

Good."

oxoxoxoxo

"I didn't come to bake bread," Elizabeth protested as she looked at the mound of dough on the table with distaste.

"What do you think of the boy?" Louise buried her hands in the dough, kneading and turning it on the table.

Elizabeth smiled a little. "He looks just like Jack, doesn't he?"

"He looks like you too. I wonder when the day will come that he realizes that we are not his real family."

"You are. I'm certainly not."

"You can make yourself family if you want to. As long as you don't try to steal my Will."

"Trust me, he's all yours."

"Well then. You'll stay for dinner. Now wash your hands and help me with this bread. You always did have a knack with baking that I never possessed."

oxoxoxoxo

While Jack was completely at ease over dinner, telling the now infamous sea turtle story. (For the sake of the children Elizabeth refrained from telling the truth. She was pretty sure she was the only soul who did know how Jack got off that island.) Elizabeth was quiet, watching Willie as he ate, occasionally catching her staring at him and simply grinning. Jack's smile.

I could love him, she thought.

After dinner the adults sat outside in the setting sun, while the children played pirates. (This was of course the only game they played.) Willie came up to Elizabeth and took her hand. "Come be the damsel in distress. Nettie wont." Louise's eldest daughter had opted to stay inside the house after dinner with a book.

"We don't have anyone to rescue," Dan agreed.

Elizabeth smiled. "When your father and I were children I made him play the damsel and I rescued him."

"Elizabeth," Will said sharply.

She turned around to look at him. Jack and Louise were sniggering. "Well you did. I made you wear one of my aprons and a frilly cap."

"Just the once," Will insisted.

"Did you know my mother?" Willie asked her, again knocking her for a loop.

"Uh. . .yes. A little. When we were young." She swallowed. "Okay. I'll be your damsel in distress."

Being the damsel in distress involved standing on a tree stump while the boys fought around her. They all had terrible stances for the boys of one of the best sword fighters of the Caribbean, and absolutely no form. "Will!" Elizabeth exclaimed from her perch on the stump. "I'm appalled! Why don't these boys know how to fight?"

"Louise doesn't approve."

"Nonsense! How are these boys going to go to sea if they cannot defend themselves?"

"I'm going to be a lawyer and Harry is going to be priest," Dan explained.

"No," Harry whacked his brother in the shin with his sword. "I'm going to be a blacksmith like Father!"

"I'm going to be a sailor," Willie assured. "But I'm not allowed to be a pirate." Elizabeth smiled. 

oxoxoxoxoxo

When Willie asked Elizabeth to tuck him in at bedtime she agreed. When she left Willie had been just a baby, sleeping with them in their bed. Now he shared a trundle bed with the two other boys (she was obligated to tuck them in as well). When she had left she had hated him. Now there was a warmth, a gladness that he existed, in her.

Jack came up behind her as she smoothed the blankets at the foot of the bed. "Well?" he muttered into her ear.

She leaned back into him. "I hate it when you're right." She nodded at the children. "Goodnight boys."

oxoxoxoxoxo

Before she and Jack left she spoke to Will alone. "You wont tell him who I am until I've left, right? Or never?"

"He thinks you're dead."

"Dead!" Any worry she might have had over the truth vanished, replaced with total and utter shock. Did Will hate her so much then?

"I was angry, Elizabeth. When he asked, it slipped out. And he loves Louise and I think it's for the best, for now anyway."

"I'm dead. Well that's just wonderful, Will! Did you tell my father I was dead as well?"

"You mean you haven't written to him?"

"I think my father would prefer me dead than to know that I've become a pirate."

"Then I will write to him and declare you dead. Then I can marry Louis proper and you can go on your way. Fair enough?"

"I--I'll write to him. I promise."

"That's what I thought."

"We were never married on paper. You can marry Louise if you want."

Will smiled. "Good. I already did."

"Do you love her?"

"Yes."

"I'm glad. Will, I--"

"No apologies. No excuses. My life wasn't enough for you. I understand. Of course, you knew I was a blacksmith. You could have said no."

"I thought loving you would be enough. I tried. Really I did."

"Jack's waiting for you on the path. You need to get back to your ship."

"We will come again. And teach that boy how to fight, will you? No son of yours is going to go through his life without knowing the sword. Am I right?"

"You're right. Goodbye, Elizabeth."

"Goodbye, Will." 


	17. Chapter 17

-1Chapter 17

This is the last part. I really like this story. I think everyone stayed in character, I solved the love triangle problem satisfactorily, and I had a blast writing Gibbs. Oh, and I put lesbians in it. I like writing about lesbians. : ) Hope everyone enjoyed.

oxoxoxoxoxoxo

Elizabeth sunk gratefully into Jack's arms once they were back on the Pearl and in his cabin. "I feel better."

"I knew you would."

"We'll take him on as a cabin boy once he's old enough."

"That will put Will into a decline."

"Yes, but that will be quite funny as well."

"I love you, you know that?"

"I do."

"So I've been thinking. I missed out on the beginning of Willie's childhood--and on giving him a proper name--what do you say we try again?"

"Don't make me shoot you again."

Jack laughed. "I do love you. I really do."

oxoxoxoxoxox

End.


End file.
